Stillpoints

Stillpoints Ultra Footers will support the weight of virtually any component or speaker you own. While they might seem expensive, once you hear what they do for the sound of your system we know you will be impressed! Stillpoints produce consistent improvements in clarity, articulation, natural image size, and tonal color, all without tipping the frequency balance of your system. You’ll hear your music more and your system less, regardless of the performance level of your components and rack. This is only the beginning of the Stillpoints system!

The main body (barrel shaped) of the Ultra SS is drilled and tapped on both sides with 1/4-20 thread and can be used effectively pointing up or pointing down with the same performance.

The Stillpoints consist of an outer case (called the caylx due to its flower like petals that line the inner shell), two layers of ceramic balls, and a stainless steel pedestal. The Riser is an aluminum base with a stainless steel stud, which accepts the Stillpoint.

The system functions as a shock absorber for vibrations and resonances. The system redirects vertical vibrations into horizontal motion and absorbs it. Following the path of vibration from the top f the exposed ceramic ball, as the component is placed on the Stillpoint, the vibration contacts the ball (at 12 o'clock) and proceeds down the ball. Vibration exits the ball at a diagonal (4 or 7 o'clock). The weight of the component expands the second tier of balls, forcing them into the petals. The petals flex and counter the vibration, thereby absorbing it.

From a platform or shelf, vibration enters the bottom outer rim of the Riser, travels to the center of the Riser and traverses up the stud into the center of the pedestal. Finally, vibration travels across the pedestal to the outer edge into the ball/petal mechanism and is absorbed.

The system utilizes constrained layer damping techniques by assembling ceramic, Delrin, stainless steel, and aluminum materials. The system also provides for the leveling of components via the threaded Riser and studs.

Stillpoints heighten transparency, speed of transients, air, space, and dynamics, to name only a few attributes, to aid in a very natural presentation.

STILLPOINTS - The most effective vibration control devices we have ever used.

Testimonials

“With the Stillpoints Ultras, the soundstage opened up with greater width, depth, and bloom around images…Stillpoints made the background 'blacker' and quieter, allowing greater clarity and resolution…not inexpensive, but in the context of a high-end system, they provide a huge sonic return on the investment!” – Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound

"The Stillpoints LPI immediately imposes a sense of balanced calm on proceedings: the band step away from the speakers, the recording becomes a single, coherent entity, while the stereo perspective becomes much more natural, especially in terms of height. The drum kit solidifies into a single compact unit, rather than having elements scattered across the soundstage, the chiming guitars are both better separated and more insistent. But most telling of all is the drop in apparent volume; the music doesn’t seem so loud because so much hash and noise has been stripped away...I’ve found no music that fails to benefit from the LPI and it has become an essential piece of the turntable setup." – Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat

“…we used the Stillpoint isolation devices under the [$39,000] Burmester 911 Mk III amplifiers (and to wonderful effect). The Stillpoints opened up the sound of the amps to a remarkable degree!” - Harry Pearson, Founder and Chairman, The Absolute Sound

"At US$1800 for a set of eight Ultra Stainless-Steel feet, these devices are not inexpensive. Nonetheless, in the context of a high-end system they provide a huge sonic return on the investment."Robert Harley - Editor-In-Chief Absolute Sound

" these devices make all prior attempts at isolation seem a waste of effort. It is hard for me to say that one can only hear music reproduction at its best spending thousands of dollars on isolating your equipment, but that is the reality. I would never go back as on each recording I am now totally involved in the music and thrilled by it."- Norm Luttbeg, Stereo Times

The LP Isolator is a record weight that slips over the spindle of your turntable and rests on the label portion of your LP to absorb the micro vibrations that can interfere with stylus/record contact...

Reviews:
With a comprehensive review of the Stillpoints ESS Rack and system-support solutions already in the...

Overview
The Stillpoints ESS racks are modular in design allowing you to configure the rack to your specific needs. Three widths and three heights are available, and you can order any number of clear...

Reviews

Weighty Matters: Stillpoints Ultra LP Isolator

Reviewer:
Roy Gregory

I have nothing but praise for the Stillpoints Ultra LPI. Those of you playing records should give it serious consideration if its weight and purpose suit your ‘table of choice. As an adjunct to the Classic 4, sitting as it is on a quartet of Ultra SS feet, mounted atop an ESS rack, it might be the last piece in the jigsaw, but it’s far from the least important.

With a comprehensive review of the Stillpoints ESS Rack and system-support solutions already in the works, it might seem premature to evaluate a separate product from the same maker amongst the host clamoring for attention, but I think the Ultra LP Isolator -- LPI for short -- is a special case. Unlike the other Stillpoints products, this is not designed to support equipment or loudspeakers. Nor is it designed to channel energy into a waiting, dispersive structure. Instead, this is a standalone device that works to control mechanical energy induced into records, either by the stylus or the platter/bearing and drive mechanism. It is a specific product designed to tackle a specific problem and is confined to LP replay. As such, with the Stillpoints support system, and any review of it, concentrating so clearly on the issues around component coupling and support, the LPI risks being overlooked -- and it’s way, way too good for that.

In reality, although the Ultra LPI is used quite differently from other Stillpoints products, the philosophy and thinking behind it are a natural extension of the same understanding that produced the original Stillpoints cones and everything else that the company has produced since. Once you get past the mistaken idea that we should be isolating our equipment from the outside world and instead think in terms of isolating the signal from extraneous mechanical interference -- interference that exists and is mainly generated within the equipment itself -- then you will start pushing open a door that leads to dramatic improvements in system performance. And where better to tackle spurious mechanical energy than the stylus-groove interface?

Your cartridge measures tiny, tiny mechanical impulses as faithfully as it possibly can. What it can’t do is differentiate between input directly from the groove wall and input that is transmitted through the vinyl itself. That might be reflected energy from the tracing action of the stylus, or it might have come from within the turntable itself; either way, the stylus doesn’t care. It just passes everything along, transduced into its electrical output. That’s why the record-platter junction has attracted so much attention over the years, with everything from no platter (Meitner) to lossy interfaces (Linn) to acrylic platters and even vacuum hold down (SOTA, Versa Dynamics, Rockport, etc.). Along the way we’ve had mats made of everything -- organic and inorganic -- clamps, weights and dampers, all designed to clean up, soak up or disperse unwanted energy before the cartridge gets to read it.

In this context, applying the patented Stillpoints technology to the issue of sinking unwanted energy out of the record and into the substantial body of the LPI seems like a bit of a no-brainer. Knowing just how effectively the various Stillpoints products drain spurious vibrations from the complex structure of electronic components, a slab of vinyl should be a piece of cake. In fact, the LPI is an adaptation of the Ultra 5 large component support. Take the top half of that device, with its five Stillpoints modules sunk inside it, drill a hole in the middle to drop it over a record player spindle and away you go. The five Stillpoints modules rest directly on the record label, coupling the weight directly to the surface. Of course, the LPI has been tidied up considerably, but that’s the essence of the product. It has a beautifully tactile, chamfered profile that makes it a joy to handle as well as pleasing to the eye. The stainless-steel body might be low of profile, but it’s also incredibly dense, its compact form belying its near pound-and-a-half dead weight. At $495 (£440 in the UK), it is not cheap, but nor is it anywhere near the top of the scale for aftermarket record clamps/weights.

Putting theory into practice

Anybody who has lived with the vagaries and frustrations that seem to attend any hi-fi component will know only too well that theory is nice but it doesn’t pay the musical rent. The proof of the LPI pudding will be in how it sounds -- and in this case it’s got some competition. A quick scout around the shelves of the hi-fi racks, the listening room and the storage area turned up two different VPI clamps, a VPI record weight, two other metal weights/strobes and a couple of wooden weights, although not the Kuzma or Shun Mook ones that are the best wooden weights I’ve heard. Those will have to wait for another day, but used on the VPI Classic 4, the LPI swiftly disposed of all other pretenders.

I started by comparing the Stillpoints weight to the sound of the record simply set on the platter with no restraint or damping at all. Take the brash life and energy of Talking Heads’ debut album Talking Heads 77 [Sire SR 6036] and the LPI immediately imposes a sense of balanced calm on proceedings: the band step away from the speakers, the recording becomes a single, coherent entity, while the stereo perspective becomes much more natural, especially in terms of height. The drum kit solidifies into a single compact unit, rather than having elements scattered across the soundstage, the chiming guitars are both better separated and more insistent. But most telling of all is the drop in apparent volume; the music doesn’t seem so loud because so much hash and noise has been stripped away. Anybody who doesn’t think that Tina Weymouth can play bass should hear this white-girl groove on "Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town" with the LPI holding the record down. Likewise the deep, insistent throb of "Psycho Killer" takes on a new shape and menace, locking in the drums and jangly guitars.

It’s this new sense of foundation and clarity that sets the LPI apart from the competition. Most clamps add a degree of definition or separation; few add the sense of order and musical stability that comes with the Stillpoints weight, the sense of solidity, purpose and poise it reveals in a performance. 77 is a great recording that tests systems and turntables to their limits. Its brashness is musically intentional; it should have edge and an abrasive, in-your-face quality -- but paradoxically it shouldn’t sound bright or edgy. If it does, then your system and its setup just failed the test.

Compared to the VPI weight, my previous preferred option, the LPI delivers more space between instruments (and notes), more texture and greater insight into the ensemble playing. Where the VPI weight sounds pleasingly purposeful and a bit thuddy, the Stillpoints delivers far greater subtlety. Weymouth’s on/off bass line that opens "Don’t Worry About The Government" has more shape, a definite pause between its notes, while Jerry Harrison’s chopped, short-string guitar stabs are more incisive, quicker and more definite.

Playing the Analogue Productions double-record 45rpm pressing of the Johanos/Dallas, Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances [APC34145S] underlines these differences even more starkly. The Turnabout recording always had impressive life, presence and dynamics, but suffered from excessive tape noise. Playing the Analogue Productions repressing without any weight at all, the sound is full of life and energy, with noticeably lower tape noise than I’m used to. The VPI weight calms things and adds some much-needed stability to the soundstage, but it also kills the life and vitality in the performance. The LPI offers all the stability of the VPI weight, but with none of the downsides. Tape noise has now all but vanished, the soundstage is deeper, much better defined and provides a bigger, blacker backdrop for the instruments. There’s more color and texture to the notes, a clearer delineation of shifts in relative level -- so vital when slowly building to a really big climax -- and dynamics are really explosive. Percussion gains character and texture, but also presence and impact. The Symphonic Dances are big, bold and utterly over the top. Johanos gives them full rein and the Dallas responds with gusto, an outpouring of musical energy that the LPI helps the system take in its stride. It’s an impressive step up in performance from something as prosaic as a record weight.

The benefits of the Stillpoints Ultra LPI are not just about the loud bits. Its ability to increase resolution, poise and timing integrity is just as vital to small-scale acoustic pieces, a scenario in which its vitality, black backgrounds and dynamic discrimination really bring recordings to life, adding a real sense of delicacy and an inviting, open quality. In fact, I’ve found no music that fails to benefit from the LPI and it has become an essential piece of the turntable setup.

My comments refer to its use with the VPI Classic 4. I have no reason to suspect that it would be any less beneficial with other decks, but you’ll need to suck it and see. Certainly, a brief listen with the Clearaudio Master Reference was just as positive an experience. But there are a couple of caveats. The LPI is heavy, and you should think twice about using it on a suspended deck, especially the lighter ones like the LP12. It is also heavy enough to alter the speed of your deck, albeit very, very slightly. Using the Feickert Platter Speed app, I needed to tweak the settings on the VPI SDS by around eight notches (which is not a lot) to get the speed bang on -- picky but worthwhile if the LPI becomes a permanent part of your record-playing regimen.

Those brief comments aside, I have nothing but praise for the Stillpoints Ultra LPI. Those of you playing records should give it serious consideration if its weight and purpose suit your ‘table of choice. As an adjunct to the Classic 4, sitting as it is on a quartet of Ultra SS feet, mounted atop an ESS rack, it might be the last piece in the jigsaw, but it’s far from the least important.

...............Roy Gregory

the sound of my system with everything supported by the ESS 28-40-3, including the amp and turntable, was much better than the same system sitting on three Halcyonics and my Mana stands.

Reviewer:
Norm Luttbeg

Everything in my system has been chosen because it contributed to the reproduction of a realistic soundstage and the timbral accuracy of instruments, and I had long assumed that I was enjoying all that the electronics and speakers could give me in terms of that realism. The Stillpoints ESS 28-40-3 rack showed this assumption to be baseless. From the sweetness of the highs to the solid bass, everything had a rightness to it. I suspected from the first listening session with my components on the Stillpoints rack that it was something special. You can’t see it working, but you sure can hear it.

I well remember the Golden Age of high-end audio, when you just put your equipment on a shelf, plugged it into the wall, and listened. How different those times were, especially considering the price and design of the Stillpoints ESS 28-40-3 rack which costs $10,275 USD.

My path to isolating audio equipment from resonances has been long but rewarding. I began with an equipment rack made of cinderblocks and 1"x6" wood planks; later, I had handmade plywood cabinets. My first true efforts at isolation began with 0.5"-tall aluminum Tiptoes from Steve McCormack, of Mod Squad fame -- I bought many of those cheap little cones and placed them under my equipment. I then went on to soft feet and cones, hard feet, discs of jade ore, feet of solid carbon, hardened balls sitting in depressions, bladders, springs, multi-layered shelves, shelves of heated and compressed Styrofoam, shelves of thick glass, wooden racks, steel racks filled with lead shot, and various damping weights.

Most of these made a difference; whether the difference was good or bad was another story. Ultimately, I settled on Mana stands as the best isolation system I had experienced, though I experimented with other shelves even in the Manas. Later, Acapella Fondao Silenzio platforms on the Mana glass shelves, using the pucks that came with them as feet under the components, proved better still. For a while, I was happy with this combination.

But while I thought my adventures in isolation had all been part of my own rational process of getting the best sound, I can’t guarantee that the results would have satisfied anyone else. Although I’d improved everything to some degree, I was to discover that I was still far short of true isolation from vibration.

In the 1990s, I saw a picture of a Halcyonics Model One active isolation platform at a New York City high-end audio show, where it had been demonstrated isolating a glass of water. The Model One had resisted all efforts -- pounding on the table, shaking the table, etc. -- to cause a ripple in the water in the glass. I contacted Halcyonics’ US importer and asked if the Model One was good for isolating components from acoustic feedback. He said not only did it do that, it also absorbed internal vibrations generated by the component sitting on it. He asked if I’d like to listen to one. Of course I did.

I received a Model One, loved it, and ultimately bought two more. They’re expensive -- some models cost over $10,000 each -- and very effective. For a long time, I hoped that this German-made product would get cheaper, which would allow me to have Model Ones supporting everything in my system, but alas, the euro kept getting stronger against the dollar, and I had to "get by" with just three.

Enter the Equipment Suspension System (ESS) from Stillpoints, makers of the famous support cones. I first saw and heard the ESS racks at the 2008 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. The system in the room in which they were being used sounded great, but of course it was impossible to tell which component was most responsible for the sound. However, John Tucker of Exemplar, whose top tube preamp was being demonstrated in that room, told me that the ESS rack was quite good. Later, after he’d bought one for himself, he was more emphatic. As I greatly respect Tucker’s work and hearing, I asked for an ESS for review, but demand for the rack meant that my review sample wasn’t shipped for several months. Finally, after the 2009 RMAF, it arrived.

Description

The reader can see from the photograph that the ESS 28-40-3 is a striking-looking rack of stainless steel and acrylic. Hidden somewhere in all this, included under each shelf, is the Stillpoints technology first used in the Stillpoints cones. I’d had experience of acrylic shelves in the past, and I had misgivings -- but if the acrylic shelves were detracting from the sound of this rack, I didn’t hear it.

From the Stillpoints webpage:

The Stillpoints consists of an outer case, two layers of ceramic balls, and a stainless steel pedestal. The Riser is an aluminum base with a stainless steel stud, which accepts the Stillpoints.

The system functions as a shock absorber for vibrations and resonances. The system changes vertical vibration into horizontal motion and absorbs it. Following the path of vibration from the top of the exposed ceramic ball (at 12 o’clock), as the component is placed on the Stillpoints, the vibration exits that ball at the contact point of the second tier of balls at a diagonal (4 or 7 o’clock). The weight of the component expands the second tier of balls, forcing them into the surrounding petals, which flex and absorb the vibration.

From the platform or shelf, vibration enters the bottom outer rim of the Riser, travels to the center of the Riser, and transverses up the stud into the center of the pedestal. Finally, vibrations travel across the pedestal to the outer edge into the ball/petal mechanism and are absorbed.

The system utilizes constrained-layer damping techniques by assembling ceramic, Delrin, stainless steel, and aluminum materials. The system also provides for the leveling of components via the threaded Riser and studs.

Setup

It took me about two hours to assemble my 40"-high ESS 28-40-3 rack with its three 20"W x 16"D x 0.75"-thick shelves. The fit and finish of this product is exemplary, and it definitely looks high-tech. Though others may not, I love its appearance.

It took me another three hours to disassemble my system and reassemble it on the ESS. Although I’d listened to the system prior to disassembly, the comparison with the new rack was a long-term one. I was also mindful that the components, having been turned fully off and their cables substantially twisted, might take some time to recover. This would, of course, disadvantage my first impressions of the Stillpoints rack.

Other than now sitting on a new rack, my system was otherwise unchanged. However, only one of my Halcyonics -- the one under my Exemplar DAC and SACD player -- was displaced. Each of these was placed on the Stillpoints rack, as were my H-Cat line stage and phono stage and the Exemplar Music Server. My Shindo Labs turntable and H-Cat amp remained on their Halcyonics Model Ones.

Listening

I used in my evaluation This Is K2 HD Sound (CD, First Impression Music FIMK2HD078), just as I had at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show and T.H.E. Show and RMAF. I played a rip of this sampler from the hard drive of my Exemplar Music Server. Track 1, Symphonic Dances, was quite a shock. This is a big orchestra playing big climaxes. Although I was listening at my usual volume level, it sounded a good deal louder, with an authority, foundation, and clarity that hadn’t been there before. Notes had sharper leading edges than before. When a new instrument entered, I was startled, as I imagine I would have been at a live concert, had I not noticed that musician getting ready to play. Another word for this is realism.

I don’t think that many of us -- perhaps none -- know what our systems might sound like if all vibration were to be eliminated. Listening now, I had the distinct impression that all smear and lack of dynamics, perhaps caused by vibrations, were suddenly gone. It sounded to me as if I was now hearing what my system sounded like when much more of the airborne, structure-borne, and internal vibrations generated within the components themselves were being damped or removed. And, of course, that may well have been exactly what was happening.

I’d had the same initial impressions with the Halcyonics Model Ones, but their efficacy depends on how fast their electronics can counter the vibrations they encounter. Nor do I know whether the Stillpoints technology performs throughout the audioband. I do know that I turned the volume up to the level I hear when seated at the center of row two, leaned back, and thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

Track 2 on This Is K2 HD Sound is a flamenco performance, "Zapateado," and it confirmed my initial impressions. The footfalls of the dancer were realistically portrayed and precisely located. I’m growing tired of this selection, but that doesn’t make it any easier for a stereo system to capture, and the ESS rack dramatically improved its sound. Tracks 5 and 16 are also growing old, but the decay of the bells and the gong’s shimmer and decay on "Touch," and the background sounds in Pachelbel’s Canon in D, were just more realistic, and the leading edges of percussion sounds were startling.

The last track of Frank Sinatra’s Only the Lonely (CD, Capitol/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab/Koch B001BJ65SU) is his melancholy take on "One for My Baby." The intimate feeling of this recording was correctly lost with the Stillpoints rack -- I was immediately aware that the recording studio was quite large and not intimate at all. Sinatra’s performance of this song on Sinatra at the Sands (CD, Reprise 46947-2), while still in a large room, had a much more intimate feel.

Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis’s recent album, Two Men with the Blues (CD, Blue Note 04454 2), is a live recording of some pretty funky music, such as "Ain’t Nobody’s Business" and "My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It." The sense of the recording venue with the Stillpoints was quite real. Without the ESS stand, I got some sense that there was an audience present, but not a sense that I was part of it. The Stillpoints changed that. The instruments also had a realism and leading edges that I’d never quite heard before. The piano and drums also had greater authority.

Finally, I played some LPs on my Shindo Labs turntable. The sound was authoritative, especially the bass. Duke Ellington and Ray Brown’s This One’s for Blanton (2 45rpm LPs, Fantasy OJC/Analogue Productions 2310-721) was striking in its clarity. The piano is the key here, and its honky-tonk sound came through with great realism. Both Brown’s bass and Ellington’s piano were very accurately reproduced, transcending anything I’d heard before from my system. I ended up listening to all four sides of this recording.

Another recording that I often use is Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall (RCA/Classic LSQ-6007-2). While the performance is quite good, it is the sound of the audience, as well as the ambient sounds around and beneath Carnegie Hall, that lend realism to this recording: You can distinctly hear the subway approach, stop, and depart, and the movements of the performers onstage give you the impression of being there. The applause after each song was strikingly real with the ESS 28-40-3, and the other sounds were never clearer.

Conclusion

The Stillpoints ESS 28-40-3 is, of course, a device for reducing or removing from the reproduction of music the interference of vibrations. It doesn’t have the "sound" of rubber or most woods, nor of steel or brass points. I’ve never heard a music system in which every component sat on a Halcyonics base, but the sound of my system with everything supported by the ESS 28-40-3, including the amp and turntable, was much better than the same system sitting on three Halcyonics and my Mana stands.

Everything in my system has been chosen because it contributed to the reproduction of a realistic soundstage and the timbral accuracy of instruments, and I had long assumed that I was enjoying all that the electronics and speakers could give me in terms of that realism. The Stillpoints ESS 28-40-3 rack showed this assumption to be baseless. From the sweetness of the highs to the solid bass, everything had a rightness to it. I suspected from the first listening session with my components on the Stillpoints rack that it was something special. You can’t see it working, but you sure can hear it.

...................Norm Luttbeg

these devices are not inexpensive. Nonetheless, in the context of a high-end system they provide a huge sonic return on the investment.

Reviewer:
Robert Harley

Finally, replacing the stock spikes with Stillpoints make the background “blacker” and quieter, allowing greater clarity and

resolution of very low-level information. Sounds that had been somewhat undifferentiated with the stock feet became vividly clear. For example, percussion instruments that produce a series of very fine transients (shakers and guiros, for examples) sounded much more real with the reduction in transient blurring. Moreover, it was much easier to identify exactly how the instrument produced its sound. All this added up to a more lifelike reproduction.

I’d be a rich man if I had a nickel for every time an accessories manufacturer told me that his product would make a “dramatic” or “jaw-dropping” improvement in my system. Adding accessories usually renders a marginal improvement in sound—an improvement that is not always commensurate with the asking price. In my experience, accessories tinker at the margins rather than fundamentally influence a system’s sound.

So it was natural that I regarded the claims of Stillpoints’ Bruce Jacobs with a wary—and weary—eye. Jacobs suggested that replacing the spikes beneath my Focal Stella Utopia EM loudspeakers with Stillpoints Ultra feet would result in a “shocking” improvement in sound quality.

There’s only so much time in a day, but I gave the Stillpoints a try largely because my neighbor, Rick Brown of Hi-Fi One, is so enthusiastic about all Stillpoints products. (Rick sells a few very select lines of esoteric gear, is a great listener, and gets terrific sound at his place.)

The Stillpoints Ultra is a cylindrical metal structure with a threaded insert on one end and a concave surface on the other. The threaded insert accepts an adapter, also made by Stillpoints, that screws into the bottom of your particular loudspeaker in place of the stock spikes. You must specify your loudspeaker so that you get the correct adapters. When the Ultra is placed under components, such as a power amplifier, you simply forego the adapters and allow the component to rest on the Ultra’s flat top surface.

The Ultra appears to have two parts: the main cylindrical structure and a loose-fitting “cap” on the end. It is actually composed of ten internal components that form an elaborate vibration-dissipation system. The internal structure includes tiny ceramic bearings that dissipate micro-vibrations. The Ultra is a two-way device, meaning that it dissipates vibration entering from either direction (from the floor or from the component resting on the Ultra). Moreover, there is no vertical path for vibration through the Ultra. This device is the highest implementation of Stillpoints’ technology, which is reflected in the price—$900 for a set of four. An aluminum version, identical in every way except for the metal, is $640 for a set of four. According to Stillpoints, stainless-steel more quickly dissipates vibrational energy. Less expensive versions have fewer internal energy-dissipating components. Stillpoints products are designed and made in Wisconsin.

I replaced the hefty stock Focal spikes with Stillpoints Ultras, sat back, and was shocked by what I heard. With the Stillpoints, the soundstage opened up with greater width, depth, and bloom around images. The sound became even more detached from the loudspeakers, with a greater solidity of images between and around the Focals. On the familiar “Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes” from Paul Simon’s Graceland, the spread of voices in the unaccompanied opening passage extended more widely, and the sense of the voices hanging in three-dimensional space increased. The impression of height was more tangible, adding to the increased perception of a three-dimensional soundstage in front of me.

The bass improved to a similar degree. The bottom end became tauter, better defined, and cleaner. The Stillpoints made the midbass a bit leaner, but more articulate. The improved midbass conferred greater clarity in the midrange, as well as in the bottom octave, where very low bass notes were more audible and defined once the midbass was better controlled. Bass dynamics were also improved; notes seemed to start and stop more quickly, giving the presentation greater dynamic agility and conveying more of the musicians’ dynamic expression.

Finally, replacing the stock spikes with Stillpoints make the background “blacker” and quieter, allowing greater clarity and

resolution of very low-level information. Sounds that had been somewhat undifferentiated with the stock feet became vividly clear. For example, percussion instruments that produce a series of very fine transients (shakers and guiros, for examples) sounded much more real with the reduction in transient blurring. Moreover, it was much easier to identify exactly how the instrument produced its sound. All this added up to a more lifelike reproduction.

At US$1800 for a set of eight Ultra SS feet, these devices are not inexpensive. Nonetheless, in the context of a high-end system they provide a huge sonic return on the investment.

At that price, the ERS has to rate right up there.... among the highest values in high-end audio.

Reviewer:
Rick Becker

Two other villains in the audio world are the RFI and EMI twins, and like unwanted physical vibrations, these bad boys are combated with a variety of electronic and shielding technologies to eliminate their degrading effect on the music. Everything from non-magnetic chassis for components, to cable shielding, to power conditioners of all sorts is used to clean up the electrical power in our systems. But I have to admit to being more than a little skeptical about the piece of magic ERS paper that I was given at the Montreal show. But willing to try almost anything, I eagerly accepted the sample. After all, they were using a piece of it on top of the outboard BAM of the Merlin loudspeakers that sounded so marvelous-why not?

Along with the sets of Stillpoints came what I thought would be a lifetime supply of ERS paper in a variety of sheets and strips. (I was wrong again, and requested a second batch). Unlike the Stillpoints, the ERS paper is a more subtle product. The Stillpoints focus and improve the sound that you do hear. The ERS paper eliminates the deleterious effects of RFI and EMI, so you have to listen for what's missing, rather than listen for what's improved. Granted, one hand washes the other here, but the improvements wrought by the Stillpoints are much more easily picked up than the elimination of RFI/EMI by the ERS paper. Once you shift your perceptual gears, you will begin to have that "Oh, my G-d" reaction as you spread this paper around in your system.

The first place I tried it was on top of the power supply of my CAT preamplifier, using little spacers so as not to restrict the air flow through the vents. Since the CAT has tubes, I was reluctant to place any ERS inside the main chassis. It is, after all, paper. The background became a little quieter, I thought, and I could hear more inner detail in the music. Next, I slid sheets above and below my CD player (transport) and DAC. Better still, but being relatively cool, solid-state components, why not put the ERS paper directly inside the chassis? Much better! In fact, the DAC fell off my list of candidates for future upgrades-not bad results from a $20 sheet of paper. Next up was my tuner, which I use to listen to New-Age music on Hearts of Space on NPR . Huge gains here, too! This was really fun! Throw a sheet or two of ERS paper into your component, and feel like you just saved yourself a thousand, or two, or three thousand dollars in a major component upgrade! Man, this stuff is dangerous! It could put hundreds of American craftspeople and thousands of Chinese out of work if audiophiles started using this stuff instead of buying newer, more expensive products.

I resisted the urge to slide some sheets into my Plinius amplifier because in Class A mode, the big guy really cooks, and all that vinyl in my house is really flammable. But I took a long look at the Mahi monoblocks and carefully slid a small sheet between the transformers and the tube deck. I also isolated the input interconnect from the speaker cables, and slid another small piece between the two speaker cable leads--likewise, at the loudspeaker end of the cable. With the un-shielded Mil-Spec interconnects, I wrapped the ends with the smaller strips of ERS for several inches, and made little sleeves that I could push up over the RCA connection once the locking RCA connectors had been tightened down. These ERS treated $40 home-brew cables halved the distance between the untreated cable and the $700 per pair Kharma Matrix Neo interconnects I was using for review. At the junction box where four ac power cords connect with my JPS AC In-Wall dedicated line, I wrapped the power cords with a long thin strip.

This leads me to the one anomaly I encountered. Every application of the ERS paper I tried seemed to provide some degree of improvement in the background noise of the system-except one. At Stillpoint's suggestion, I taped a sheet of ERS over the circuit breakers in my mains box. Not a bad idea in my mind, either. But when I did this early on in my experimentation, it made the whole system sound worse. When I repeated the trial after mummifying all my components and cables with ERS, covering the breakers with a sheet made no difference. So again, as with the Stillpoints, you have to play around with this stuff, and find the balance of application that best suits your ears and your system. Overall, by using the ERS paper judiciously, for perhaps a hundred dollars, you could treat and transform your entire system. At that price, the ERS has to rate right up there with the HAL-O tube dampers and the None-Felt turntable mat, as among the highest values in high-end audio. For those of you who might begrudge the look of this stuff cluttering up your expensive components, I suggest "Turn off the lights and enjoy the music!"

Manufacturers should also note that the ERS paper is available with an adhesive backing that is especially tenacious. This should lend itself to OEM applications that might catapult components into the next, or even higher, category of recommended components. I didn't test the adhesive backing personally, for when I ultimately swap out a component, I want to keep the ERS paper for its successor. I regret that I did not have enough time to test the ERS paper in my DVD player and other mid-fi components in other systems in my home. When I do, I will try and mention it in future reviews.

In another communiqué, Allan passed on a letter from a guy in Boise, Idaho, who drag races his Corvette and achieved substantial improvement with a special cover lined with ERS material. Specifically, his three run averages dropped from 13.676 seconds to 13.586, equating to a 0.3 mph gain. Fortunately, I have enough ERS left over to soup up my new Silver Bullet for the annual March run to the Festival du Son-Image in Montreal.

Summary

My friend, fellow journalist, and prodigious bicyclist, Art Shapiro, commented to me once, "You sure review a lot of weird stuff!" Well, I guess this review will add more fuel to his fire. These products, the Stillpoints and ERS paper, are certainly on the fringe of the High End scene. And while the Stillpoints may seem exorbitantly priced in comparison to ordinary cones, their performance is highly commendable. Mate the Stillpoints with the optional risers, use them point down on an appropriate hard surface, and their performance becomes extraordinary, far outstripping the cost of upgrading the component they support. The ERS, at twenty dollars a sheet is an even higher, though less obvious value. You can buy just one set of Stillpoints or one sheet of ERS and evaluate the benefit with each of your components at little risk, before committing to multiple sets or sheets. Furthermore, both products are relatively free from obsolescence. They will work just as nicely with your upgraded box as they do in your present rig. And who knows-you may discover that you don't need to upgrade after all. Put them at the very top of your Christmas gift list, and if Santa doesn't come through for you, be good to yourself!

Post Script

In the process of taking photos for this review, I removed the top of my Sony ES CD player to discover that I had not put any ERS paper inside. I added one sheet, snapped the photo, added a second sheet, and re-installed it in my rig as the transport, only. Instantly, I knew I had hit the mother lode. Within twenty minutes the unit had warmed up again and the results were truly phenomenal. The people of Woodville, WI, should be warned that audiophiles in large numbers will soon be making pilgrimages to kiss the hands of Paul Wakeen and Larry Jacoby. Brace yourselves for sainthood, gentlemen. It's a miracle.

A tip of the hat to the boys in my band: ...............Rick Becker

I cannot recommend them more strongly.

Reviewer:
Norm Luttbeg

The best analogy that I can think of is that improved isolation is much like the fog lifting. The more it lifts, the more musical detail as well as audience noise and music you get. Everything becomes vivid with more of a sense of being there. These isolation devices are quite expensive, but they are also unrivaled in performance. I view them as an investment of use no matter what components I might have. I cannot recommend them more strongly.

Visiting the StillPoints suite at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and at The Home Entertainment Show is always a revealing experience. Their “technology,” small ceramic balls in four layers with a spacing that largely converts vertical motion into horizontal motion that can only be converted into heat, continues to be applied to new products. In this review I will consider the benefits of their new LPI Record Isolator or record weight with further benefits and their new Ultra Five Isolation Feet.

The LPI weighs 1 ½ lbs and is about 3” in diameter and 1” thick. It has five of the technology devices inserted on the bottom to convert any vibrations on the record surface into heat.

The Ultra Fives weigh 4 lbs each and come in two sections. The top hat is also about 3” in diameter and is 1” thick with the five technology units inserted into it. The mount is about three quarters of an inch thick and the same diameter as the top hat.

Of course, the LPI is just placed on the record. The Ultra Five are best mounted on components and speakers, but may be just inserted under the component, preferably with the screw hole upward as the technology is then closer to the component. Under my Tidal speakers, I used adaptors available from StillPoints to screw them onto the speakers with some separation between the Ultra Fives and the bottom plate of the speakers. Fortunately, these speakers have three alternative inserts in each corner that allowed me to have them at the outer edge of the speakers at the sides and just outside the front and back of the speakers.

Listening Impressions on StillPoints Ultra Fives

It took me some time with the speakers in position, to remove the StillPoints Ultra SSs I had been using along with their threaded adaptors and retread it into the Ultra Fives and then mounted under the speakers. I carefully maintained the same position for each speaker. Nothing else was changed.

I must say their sonic impact was immediate. The bass was both profound and defined. Secondly, I noticed the precision of the soundstage. Depth was evident at the extreme left and right sides as well as in the middle and on some piano recordings, you could really have the impression that you could tell when the key hit by the pianist was further to the right, how far from the vocalist the audience cougher was, or the separation between the piano accompanist and the singer. The soundstage also was raised or had a vertical aspect, as Diana Krall was above where her piano was. There was a great increase in the details evident in the recordings. Each vocalist in a choir was distinct as were the instrumentists in symphonies or at least first and second violins. The recording venue was just vividly before me. I had thought that I had come about as far as I could go in getting a holographic presentation before me, only to realize that there was much more possible. Clearly tiny vibrations are greatly muddling our reproduced music.

I recently had the good fortune of getting eight additional StillPoints Ultra Fives. It turns out that the original design required activation by loosening the transport screw between the two halves. But some had apparently loosened it too much or it vibrated so loose that the two halves came apart. Thus, StillPoints redid them to require no such loosening. These eight were replacements. I did have the good fortune of getting the original eight returned once they had been updated.

My first experience with the Ultra Fives under electronics, focused on my BMC DAC1 PRE, which combines a dac and a very neutral preamp. I had had this unit on four Ultra SSs and on my StillPoints Rack. Given the three-inch diameter of the Ultra Fives, I only used three under the unit. I also tried three under the Weiss DAC202 replacing three Ultra SSs again. This was really fruitless as the Ultra Fives are so large and the Weiss so small.

What always amazes me is that my cabling apparently does not like to be moved and installing the Ultra Fives did move them. So after about an hour, I got a very substantial improvement in the sound. Everything in the high frequencies, such as high hat, violins, and trumpets just seemed so right. The subtle details emerged from the recordings and allowed a more precise holographic image. This was quite evident in symphonic recordings, such as Amerset Swan Lake Duo selection on the K2 Sampler This Is K2 HD Sound [FIM K2 HD 078]. All the instrumental locations were vivid, as though I had a center seat ten rows back. This was also the case in the studio recording of Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” on the K2 sampler. This is an entirely percussion performance. The top end strikes were just so sweet and real and one could easily visualize the marimba player’s movement down the instrument. Little did I suspect that there was further benefits to be had.

I replace the BMC DAC1 PRE with an Exemplar Audio XP-2 tube line stage, using the StillPoints Ultra Fives. Again the width of the Ultra Fives entailed putting them toward the center of the unit. The Exemplar comes with StillPoints Ultra SS installed precisely where they can be directly used with the StillPoints Rack, but initially I installed it on the shelf where the BMC had been tried on the Ultra Fives. Again, I heard a better defined and deeper bass, the clean top end, and precise sound stage.

After a day’s use in this configuration, I removed the Ultra Fives and used the installed Ultra SSs again on the shelf. This was not a loss of most of the improvement in sound, especially when I centered the StillPoints Ultra SSs over the screws holding the acrylic shelf to the cross rails of the StillPoints Rack. Each screw has the “technology” isolating it from the rack rails. I next removed the acrylic shelf and replaced the hard hats on the Ultra SSs with special pins that would slide into the rail isolators. Now I would have to say that the sound was far superior. I would attribute this to removing the adverse impact of acrylic. A haze was removed giving greater clarity, and the leading edge of the sound was sharpened, resulting in a “magical” presence of the performers. I had seen the Exemplar Audio XP-2 used like this at various shows but never had the experience of comparing it with the unit just sitting on the shelf. What an improvement it makes! But note this is only with the Exemplar used on the StillPoints Rack.

I also tried the Ultra Fives under my BMC phono stage. Again the problem was getting the Ultra Fives under the unit between its feet. Again, this meant that they had to be entirely on the acrylic shelf between the support rails of the StillPoints Rack. This was also the case with the Ultra SSs. Once more I did not find the Ultra Fives were much, if any, improvement over the Ultra SSs.

In both of my comparisons under the source components, I thought the acrylic shelves impeded the performance of the Ultra Fives as compared with the Ultra SSs. Unfortunately I have no other audio shelving to assess whether this is really true. Given my prior experiences with acrylic shelves, however, I am very suspicious of this material deadening the sound.

My final experiment was using the Ultra Fives replacing the Ultra SSs under my BMC M1 amps. I had each amp on a StillPoints Component Stand with four legs. Each leg had an Ultra SS screwed on its slider and the amp on top. My comparison entailed removing the Ultra SSs and screwing on the Ultra Fives. Once again the 3” diameter of the Ultra Fives forced positioning them under the amps to avoid their feet and in this case fan intakes. Ultimately I had to move one of the component stands legs to position it going straight back under the amps, so that the Ultra Five on it was between the two fan intakes.

As I could easily try three Ultra Fives using only three of the Component Stands legs versus four using all four, I did so. I should note that it is more difficult to use four than three as three are always in contact with the component but four may well leave one without contact. Obvious four with one not in contact is the same as three. I did try three under the BMC DAC1 PRE and thought four were somewhat better. Four under each amp, however, is greatly superior.

With four Ultra Fives properly installed, one is enveloped in the sound stage, with many details quite evident. On Harry Belafonte’s Returns to Carnegie Hall [RCA Victor LSO 6007-Classic Records Quiex SV-P], not only do you hear coughing precisely located to the individual and hear the subways approach the nearby station, stop, and then depart, but you also hear performers talking, traffic in the street, and the air conditioning system. You also precise locations for performers, Bellefonte turning his head, and other details that convince you of their presence. The realism of live performances was strikingly holographic and thrilling.

On a digital source from FIM with an older recording of Swan Lake by Amerset mentioned earlier, the absolute clarity and timbre of the instruments totally captured which instrument was responsible and its precise location. I thought that the StillPoints Ultra SSs had yielded all the information that was in the recording, but the Ultra Fives are a magnitude of improvement better. No longer will I say nothing is better than the Ultra Fives, which I thought was true of the Ultra SSs, but I certainly cannot see how it might be achieved.

Listening Impressions on StillPoints LPI Record weight

I compared the StillPoints LPI on my Bergman Sindre turntable with an Ortofon A-90 cartridge, Exemplar Silver balance Portal interconnects, and the BMC MCCI phono stage. The Bergman comes with a screw down record holder. This holder can easily be over or under tightened, so I was very careful in tightening, as I have learned to do so in my two years using this turntable. The StillPoints LPI is merely placed on the record with its weight being enough to hold it tightly.

I listened to primarily three recordings: Rob Wasserman’s Duets [MCA-42131], Dave Brubeck’s Time Out [Classic Records 45RPM rerelease of Columbia CS 8192] and Harry Belafonte’s album that I mentioned earlier. My listening observations were the same for all these records.

With the StillPoints LPI, the soundstage was just more vivid and defined with those performing more present. There was more detail, especially on the Belafonte recording. A live audience is noisy and Carnegie Hall has a subway beneath it. Both are quite evident, especially with the LPI. But this is not the only detail you gain. Mr. Belafonte turns at various points which were quite evident, as is the spacing between the Chad Mitchell Trio, and Miriam Makeba’s clicking in the “Click Song.”

On Take Five, Brubeck’s piano has always seemed poorly mic'd to me, but not in this playback. One knows exactly where each performer is both in depth and left to right. All of their instruments are very realistic sounding.

Conclusion

The best analogy that I can think of is that improved isolation is much like the fog lifting. The more it lifts, the more musical detail as well as audience noise and music you get. Everything becomes vivid with more of a sense of being there. These isolation devices are quite expensive, but they are also unrivaled in performance. I view them as an investment of use no matter what components I might have. I cannot recommend them more strongly.

RVIEW SUMMARY:From their very first product, Stillpoints have challenged the accepted status quo and our understanding of not just how equipment supports work, but how important they are -- and how much budget we should allocate to them. The current range is versatile, cost-effective and offers remarkable performance. In fact, if you haven’t heard your system on Stillpoints, you probably haven’t heard your system, and if such a thing as a benchmark support system exists here and now, then this is surely it. Of course, the great thing about benchmarks is that they set the standard, a standard that’s there to be beaten by future developments from Stillpoints or their competition

Stillpoints • Ultra Mini, Ultra SS and Ultra 5 Footers, and ESS Equipment Rack comprehensive overwiew:The original Stillpoints "isolation device" has become almost iconic, with its instantly identifiable shape -- part cone, part cylinder, topped off with that exposed, large-diameter ceramic ball. Its novel approach and stacked ceramic balls set it apart from the crowd and so did its performance, quickly establishing it as the benchmark product against which other cones would be compared. That original design still stands up today, but our understanding of both equipment supports and the Stillpoints product line have moved on -- considerably.

The advent of a more sophisticated understanding of microphony and the part played by mechanical energy in signal degradation has brought us to the somewhat belated realisation that isolating equipment from the outside world is all well and good, but the real problem lies inside the equipment itself. Every single electrical component is shaking, rattling and rolling along with the music. The power transformer vibrates at the frequency of the AC supply -- right in the middle of the critical bass range -- the power-supply components vibrate as they charge and discharge, and capacitors, resistors, ICs and output devices in the signal path all vibrate as they pass that signal. Those vibrations might be small (or not so small, in the case of transformers and reservoir caps), but they are right where the signal is, poised to do the greatest possible damage. What’s more, we compound the problem by sitting our equipment on soft rubber or plastic feet, an arrangement that traps all that self-generated energy inside the chassis, where it churns around until it slowly dissipates as heat.

If the original Stillpoints were styled as isolation devices, how come they worked so well? Precisely because they acted to bypass those soft feet, providing an extremely attractive exit path for that internal energy, into itself and the structure it was sitting on. That depended partly on the chosen materials and the ceramic interface, partly on the shape of the original design, with its broad, flat base, features that have carried over into the latest range of Stillpoints designs, further augmented by a number of important developments, even if the company's philosophy seems awkwardly balanced between two stools. Functional descriptions still cling to the terminology of isolation, while the products themselves now talk about "vibration control." Control of what and how? It seems strangely equivocal when you consider just how emphatically the products perform.

Evolving the species

The most important development in the Stillpoints DNA is a move toward what the company terms "technology pockets." A concept first seen in the original but now-defunct Component Stand, essentially these are miniaturised, self-contained versions of the original Stillpoints stack of ceramic balls, but now containing twice as many individual balls, arranged in four layers rather than two. They come in two different versions: a tiny one compact enough to be used in standoffs for PCBs or inside small equipment feet, and a version using larger balls that is found in the larger feet and also the ESS rack. The other major change is a move away from aluminum alloys for equipment supports, replaced in all the existing supports with a select-grade stainless steel that is used to sandwich the technology pocket, the steel housing offering a better impedance match to the chassis material of most equipment.

The Ultra Mini is the smallest and most affordable of the Stillpoints vibration control devices. At 1.25" tall and only 1" in diameter, it is tall enough to lift most equipment, short enough not to lift it so high you’ll need a new rack and narrow enough to ensure that there are no problems when it comes to positioning. The narrow top cap is coupled to the broader base by a standoff-type technology pocket, and although the top section is free to turn, that doesn’t afford any height adjustment. Like all Stillpoints feet (or couplers) it is usually available in sets of three or four -- until you reach the largest Ultra 5, which is priced and packed individually.

The Ultra Mini is normally supplied with its own integral base, to which it fastens with a 6-32 thread, but it can also be ordered as a "head only," no base and either 8-32, 1/4x20 or M4 threads to attach directly to equipment. The real significance of this is that it can be used to replace screw-in feet on equipment (if the thread is correct) or screwed directly into the Grids of an ESS rack, of which more later.

The Ultra SS -- originally named with its "SS" suffix to differentiate it from a now-discontinued aluminium version -- is the nearest equivalent in the range to the original Stillpoint, price-wise at least. They are a clever and versatile evolution of the original, combining the HardHat cap and technology pocket from the Component Stand with a squat, drum-like housing, both top and bottom being machined from stainless steel. The nose of the HardHat, with the shallow slope of its shoulders, provides a decent contact area, while the 1/4x20 thread on which it sits offers a small amount -- but normally just enough -- vertical adjustment for levelling purposes. At 1.5" tall, with another 0.3" in adjustment, the Ultra SS will clear most feet fitted to equipment, even tall ones, but the added overall height is just getting to the point where it might cause problems if space in your rack is tight, so time to get out the tape measure! Also note that for best performance, the adjustable HardHat cap should never be screwed down tight into the body of the technology pocket -- I normally screw it down and then back off a half turn. If in doubt, Stillpoints offer a laminated card feeler gauge with each set. Just remember that if you slide the Ultra SS underneath a unit, that motion can turn the cap and inadvertently close it. Likewise, if you use Ultra SS on a threaded base or the ESS Grids, turning the body of the coupler for levelling while the cap is in contact with the supported unit can have the same effect, so it’s always worth one last check.

The big daddy of the Stillpoints support range, the Ultra 5, at 3" in diameter and 2.25" in height, features two-piece construction and sandwiches five technology pockets. Its profile looks like an Ultra SS seen through a fisheye lens, with the same sloping shoulders and slight overall taper, but in this case the contact patch is a massive 1 3/4" in diameter, occasionally making positioning under base plates studded with fixing screws an issue. To work properly the Stillpoints need a solid, flat interface with the component sat on them. Any unfortunately positioned nuts or bolts will reduce the coupling, reduce the performance and cant the equipment out of level -- all of which you want to avoid. The other thing to bear in mind is the sheer weight of the Ultra 5; the Ultra SS weighs in at around half a pound, despite its compact dimensions. Each Ultra 5 is within a whisker of three pounds! Put a quartet under each of four pieces of equipment and you’ve just added 48 pounds of stainless-steel ballast to your rack.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that the Ultra 5 is boxed and sold individually. Given the couch-potato tendencies of some audiophiles, schlepping home several boxes of four could provide a life-threatening workout; it's definitely better to spread the load. Finally, overall height of the Ultra 5 is 1.75", so these babies are definitely greedy when it comes to vertical space.

By now you’ll have twigged that only the Ultra SS offers a levelling facility inherent in its design. In order to deal with this, Stillpoints offer the Ultra Base, a 3" diameter disc that is 0.5" thick at its centre and can be screwed onto either an Ultra 5 or Ultra SS, using the system-standard 1/4x20 threaded stud, or the underside of an Ultra Mini using a threaded adapter. It works, but it adds significant additional height to each device and the narrow thread does little to inspire confidence in the overall stability of the combination, either in terms of lateral movement or retaining its level, as there is no provision to lock the height setting. On the whole I generally tend to avoid using the Ultra Base unless it’s unavoidable or in certain particular circumstances -.- but I’ll be coming to that.

So, do they actually work?

That covers the hierarchy of basic Stillpoints support products, a range of options that covers the almost affordable to the ruinously expensive -- and that’s before you factor the ESS rack into the equation. The obvious question is, Do they actually work? -- immediately followed by, Are they actually worth the money? The short version is pretty simple: yes and yes. But this wouldn’t be an audio review if the short version were considered acceptable. However, in one sense at least this is no ordinary review and the form it takes reflects that fact. Yes, the Stillpoints products work, and yes, moving up the support hierarchy brings performance benefits fully commensurate with the difference in price. But -- and it’s a big but -- only if you deploy the products properly. So, while I will talk a little bit about what the Stillpoints do, the bulk of this review will actually cover how to ensure that they deliver on that performance potential.

But first let’s talk about sound. When I’m presenting the TAB System Optimisation seminars, one of the really big steps upward in performance comes when, having already bypassed the feet under the equipment using wooden blocks, we substitute trios of Ultra Minis. The increase in transparency and focus, the drop in the noise floor, the increase in dynamic range, resolution and the range of tonal colours is nothing short of dramatic -- "Is this the same system?" dramatic. And that’s before I point out the improvements in ensemble playing, physical presence, the sense of rhythm and tempo, the relationship between the instruments, how good the track sounds -- hell, how good the musicians sound. That’s the difference that a properly executed support strategy can make -- the difference between a decipherable recording and a living breathing event, a presentation that you have to work out and one that just draws you in. You see, I can throw as many hi-fi clichés at you as you like and the Stillpoints pretty much cover the bases, but what’s really significant is not the sonic differences these products make, but the musical ones; the fact that the performance presented by your system sounds more musical, more engaging and much more immediately involving.

Now, I can demonstrate that in a hotel room using Ultra Minis. Add in Ultra SS's or Ultra 5s and you just get more of the same. The Stillpoints supports work, and so far they’ve worked every single time I’ve used them, irrespective of the system or the nature of the equipment involved. But in part at least, that is because I always use them in the same way, employing the same strategy and priorities when it comes to floating the system. If you don’t follow the rules, don’t employ the proper care when it comes to installation and don’t observe the proper priorities, you will reduce the musical benefits -- or even nullify them. And that’s not something you want to do, because properly deployed, the Stillpoints products can move your system significantly down the musical road to where it needs to be. They also deliver the kind of performance boost that only comes from constructing superior system architecture. This is not an upgrade you can get from buying a fancy new source or different speakers. This is about working with the fundamentals of system infrastructure, and Stillpoints can be a key building block in that process, helping define the physical environment in which your system operates, isolating (and preserving) the signal, rather than just the equipment.

The system-support roadmap

So when it comes to getting the best return from Stillpoints (or any other equipment supports), system strategy is critical to success. The sharper readers amongst you will have noticed that in referring to the System Optimisation seminars scenario, we place Ultra Minis under all of the equipment simultaneously. That is absolutely key to understanding their contribution. But what is also key -- and what I haven’t pointed out yet -- is that the speakers are already supported on Stillpoints. The lessons to be learnt here are general and underpin pretty much everything else. First, coherence is king. If you want to get the most out of Stillpoints then use the technology right through the system. Second, it matters in what order you float things -- and it’s not the order you might think!

Where should you start? Remember, what we are talking about here is the draining of spurious energy from the equipment within the system. To achieve the best results, you need to target that energy specifically and you need to provide somewhere for it to go. So before you even put Stillpoints into the system, look at what they will be sitting on, because that’s what is going to have to deal with the energy that they present. The worst possible scenario is a welded steel rack with glass shelves; the frame will ring like a bell (just strike it if you don’t believe me) and the shelves will bounce energy straight back into the couplers -- and then back into the equipment. Better -- much better -- are clamped-construction racks using MDF or wooden shelves, with bamboo being a particularly good option. For the seminars I normally look for a Quadraspire rack; with its screw-together aluminum uprights and shaped-and-grooved shelves it provides a perfect dispersive structure to bleed off the energy so effectively drained from the system, and it works a treat with the Stillpoints. The provision of an appropriate structure is an absolute prerequisite for success.

But even once you’ve ensured the correct supporting rack, that’s not your first port of call. That’s the speakers. Remember, we are talking about excess mechanical energy, and where in the system do you find the highest levels of that? In the speaker cabinets! So the first components you support on Stillpoints should be your speakers, because the greatest problem offers the greatest opportunity for a solution, because the speakers are the window through which you view the rest of the system. So, if you want to hear what’s happening further down the road, you’d better make sure your speakers aren’t obscuring the view.

Of course, putting Stillpoints under your speakers requires a height-adjustment facility if you are going to retain the ability to set attitude and rake angle, both essential to achieving optimum performance. Even the adjustable caps on the Ultra SS are unlikely to offer sufficient range of movement. You could use the Ultra Base, but again the actual range of movement available isn’t huge and the long-term consistency of the setup is also questionable; the Stillpoints turn so easily on the narrow thread of the Base, while its course pitch actually makes fine adjustment less precise than I’d like. Instead, and assuming that your speaker is threaded for spikes or other feet, I far prefer to screw the Ultras straight into the cabinet itself, using the extensive range of metric- and Imperial-thread adapters that Stillpoints supply. That limits you to Ultra SS or Ultra 5 under speakers, but I’d recommend those anyway.

If you are using stand-mounted speakers, then the Stillpoints should be placed between the speaker and the stand, which brings the Mini Ultras back into the equation, and they are certainly worth considering under smaller speakers. This also illustrates our next golden rule: Always place the Stillpoints technology as close as possible to the supported unit to deliver the most effective drain. Each step you remove it from the primary interface, the less effective it becomes -- true whether you are supporting a speaker, an amp, a turntable or a CD player.

Once the speakers are supported on Stillpoints, you will almost certainly have to adjust their positions. Draining energy from the cabinets usually results in cleaner, faster, deeper bass that normally means pulling the speakers forward slightly to achieve the ideal balance in the room. At the same time, the overall reduction in boxy coloration allows the music to step away from the speakers themselves, delivering a more independent soundstage, but also a more expressive performance with much better musical ebb and flow, a greater sense of the music breathing. Basically, you are hearing less speaker and more music; again, that applies whichever supports you employ, although it has to be said that in this regard, the Ultra 5s are spectacularly and, in my experience, universally successful. Expensive they may be, but in the context of a $20,000 pair of speakers, the cost-to-performance benefit makes them an absolute bargain. And remember, they’re not improving the performance of the speakers, just allowing them to deliver on the potential they already possess -- and that you’ve already paid for!

Picking your way

With the speakers sorted, it’s time to turn to the electronics. The first step should be ensuring that the basic rack is sufficient to purpose, as outlined above. Assuming that’s the case, then where should you start? Most audiophiles presented with a set of "isolation cones" would head straight for the CD player or possibly the preamp, if it is a tube device. In fact, if you think about the mechanism itself, and why we started with the speakers, what you should really be doing is looking for the highest levels of mechanical energy in the system -- and those are at the opposite end of affairs. Power amps, with their large transformers and reservoir caps, are major sources of vibration, so in equipment terms they’d be your starting point. But in system terms, you can take things back another stage entirely. If you are using a (hopefully star-grounded) distribution block to feed your system -- and you should be -- then lifting that on Stillpoints should be your first priority. Why? Because the AC supply is a massive source of mechanical vibration that gets fed straight down your power cords and into your equipment. By lifting the distribution block you create a drain or barrier between the AC supply and your system. But what’s even better is that because the whole system is connected to the distribution blocks, every electronic item gets a benefit from this single step.

After the AC supply, your order of application should simply follow the potential energy in the system: power amps, external power supplies, preamp, source components -- in that order. Whether the electronics use tubes or not is largely unimportant to this calculation. Not only do solid-state devices generally use far more components, but those components are often more closely coupled to PCBs, the chassis or heatsinks, making them more prone to modulation by mechanical energy as well as more easily mechanically grounded, so the impact of Stillpoints on solid-state equipment is often even more apparent than it is with tube electronics.

Interestingly, if you do reverse the order of application and start at the front-end of the system (at least in signal terms), then you will still hear considerable differences, but here we enter the realm of when is something just different as opposed to better. Start with your CD player and you’ll certainly hear a lower noise floor along with greater transparency, focus and dynamics. Voices will be more clearly separated in space and from the instruments around them. But what you won’t get is the improvement in rhythmic integrity and expression, the overall pattern of the music and the sense of a single acoustic space that you get if you start with the distribution block or power amp. In other words, the musical importance of the changes is much greater if you follow the power, rather than follow the signal. Follow the signal and the hi-fi benefits will be obvious, but they won’t make any real musical sense until you float the rest of the system, finally reaching the power amp and AC distribution.

Which then raises a question: if Ultra 5s are so much more effective than their lesser brethren, does it make more sense to buy them for one unit, or Ultra Minis for the whole system ($2100 for a set of three Ultra 5s will buy you the best part of 18 Ultra Minis, enough to place three under six items of electronics). The answer is simple: It’s always better to float the system as a whole, and Ultra Minis under everything will easily outperform Ultra 5s under any single item. What is interesting is that when it comes to floating the system as a whole, if you do it by stages, you’ll notice that you get consistent benefits as each extra set of supports is inserted, but inserting the final set creates a disproportionate jump in performance. Suddenly, everything in the performance locks together, the whole event making much more sense. That’s not because that last item you lifted is more critical than the others; it is because it’s the last in the chain and, as I said earlier, coherence is king.

What that also means is that using Ultra Minis under your electronics and Ultra SSes under the speakers is fine -- because the technology employed is identical. Likewise, having floated an entire system on Minis, if you then want to start upgrading to Ultra SSes or even Ultra 5s, that’s also fine, as long as you follow the priorities I set out earlier. The one proviso I’d always make is, don’t let the technology under the electronics get ahead of the speakers, so Ultra 5s under the amps and Ultra SSes under the speakers is a definite no-no. If you are upgrading, what do you do with the redundant supports? Spread them around the other electronics. The reason the Ultra 5 works so much better than the Ultra SS is because it’s got five pockets to the SS’s one. So three Minis is the minimum number you can use under a single chassis, but four (or even more) will always be better.

Where should you position the Stillpoints? Again, this is dictated by the guiding philosophy of mechanical grounding. Look for the biggest sources of mechanical energy and place the supports directly beneath them. In the case of a CD player, that means one under the power supply, one under the transport and the third positioned to provide a stable tripod. Under a power amp, it would be under the power transformer and probably (assuming it’s a dual-mono design) one under each output stage. Adding the fourth support follows the same logic and don’t be afraid to place two supports close together, under a large transformer for instance. The beauty is that it is simple to experiment with placement and the results are easily heard, especially in a fully floated system. So lift everything first and then refine the placement of the supports.

Climbing higher: the ESS rack

So far so good: we have a clearly defined hierarchy of performance and cost benefit, as well as an equally clearly defined strategy to achieve the best possible results. But the next step in the Stillpoints range arguably upsets that carefully stacked apple cart. Enter the elaborate, elegant but costly ESS rack. Remembering that the technology pockets that contact the supported equipment most directly are the ones that are most effective, the ESS is essentially a sophisticated modular framework designed to underpin that initial interface or layer of supports/couplers. If what the Stillpoints Ultras sit on affects their performance, then the ESS should provide the best possible foundation.

The structure of the ESS consists of a pair of pylons, based on stainless-steel verticals and machined aluminium outriggers. High-tensile cables run from the top outriggers to the bottom ones, anchored to technology pockets, with further pockets in the legs to accept the adjustable feet. A pair of horizontal, heavy-gauge aluminium tubes link two of the pylons, the whole creating an incredibly stable H-frame that can be levelled via four Ultra Bases screwed into the legs. Early racks were supplied with HardHats in this position, and it is one place where I’d definitely upgrade to Ultra Bases, for both aesthetic and practical reasons. The shelves are locked against the vertical wires using small Allen grub screws located in the end of their crossbars and concealed under cosmetic caps, allowing near-infinite adjustment of spacing. The cross spars are machined from solid stainless steel and each one contains three technology pockets. In the original design these interfaced with clear acrylic shelves on which the equipment was placed, meaning that each shelf was drained by six pockets, the resulting energy being dissipated in the structure of the rack.

Further complicating things is the fact that the rack’s framework is available in three different heights and three widths and will support as many shelves as you can cram into the available space, so the range of options (and prices) is almost unlimited. But to make things even more complicated, although the acrylic shelves remain available, there is now an alternative in the shape of the open Grids that are intended to accept Ultras threaded directly into them.

Let me explain. The original rack design dates from the same period as the Component Stand and original Stillpoints cones and is based on the same isolationist thinking. Its skeletal construction was certainly complemented by the transparent shelves, but as soon as you realise that you want to contact the supported system far more intimately, those shelves become an unnecessary barrier to performance. Even if you put additional Ultras between the electronics and the shelf, the shelf itself forms an impedance barrier between those Ultras and the technology pockets sunk in the crossbars. It wasn’t long before some bright spark unbolted the shelf, screwed a set of Ultras straight into the technology pockets on the bars and then needed advanced orthodontics after his jaw hit the floor! The problem is that the bars are quite far apart and the technology pockets sunk in them are far from ideally spaced or positioned to support most equipment. Remember too that the placement of your Ultras has a significant impact on system performance, and the fixed-position pockets totally remove any positional flexibility.

The solution arrived in the form of the Grids, a typically elegant piece of engineering. Used in place of the acrylic shelf, four solid stainless-steel rods are cleverly strung in a double-X configuration, linking the six technology pockets in the two crossbars. They are anchored in place by 1/4x20 studs sticking up from the pockets and are simply placed in position. The arm of each X has a pair of 1/4x20 threaded holes drilled through it and these are used to position couplers, affording a much greater degree of positional flexibility whilst retaining the direct-coupled arrangement, with nothing but stainless steel or ceramic between the equipment and the vertical wires. The Grids are supplied with the same HardHats as found on the top of an Ultra SS, but can be used with full Ultra SS couplers, Ultra 5s or even Ultra Minis. The Grid/coupler combination also allows for levelling of individual components within the rack.

Where the ESS/Grid combination falls down is in two particular regards. Firstly, although it offers greater placement flexibility for couplers than the crossbars alone, it still doesn’t offer enough fine positional adjustment. More often than not, getting something that even approaches ideal positioning means placing the equipment off-centre on the "shelf," some one way and some the other, which leads to a somewhat higgledy-piggledy or random appearance. Secondly, because its original design stance was focused on external energy, the deployment of technology pockets is not necessarily the most cost-effective arrangement possible. The coupler-Grid-pocket arrangement produces an effective cascade, but how much more effective would a cheaper, solid crossbar be, the cost savings and technology pockets redeployed into the couplers on which the equipment actually rests?

Removing the acrylic shelves from the equation, whilst undoubtedly beneficial from a sonic point of view, has one other down side. Having built the main frame of the ESS, getting all those independent crossbars at the correct heights and level with each other is a real bear -- especially as the Grids demand properly parallel surfaces if they are to sit correctly and couple properly. My advice? Start with a tape measure and get everything close before you try and get it just right with a spirit level. Even then, some levels just seem to refuse to cooperate, and there have been times when I’ve been on the verge of hurling the ESS into the rent in the time space continuum it so clearly borders, such is its disdain for the normal logic of geometry! In those cases I’ve resorted to using an old acrylic shelf to set level and then remove it. Fortunately, for most of you this would be a one-time activity, with occasional re-spacing over the years. It’s well worth watching Stillpoints’ instructional clip on their website and then taking it slowly.

Finally, don’t over tighten the grub screws that fix the height of the crossbars -- even though you are entrusting the safety of your precious equipment to the junction. Do so and you’ll kink the cable, making fine adjustment all but impossible. In practice, it’s remarkable how little force is required to lock the bar in place. In all the years I’ve used the Stillpoints racks I’ve only suffered one slippage, and then one corner of a level dropped around half an inch -- probably because I forgot to tweak it up after initial levelling.

By now you might be getting the impression that I’m disappointed with the ESS rack, but nothing could be further from the truth, and I’ve been using various iterations of the ESS for around seven years. It might not be perfect, but it is a lot closer to perfection than the competition. It is also modular, meaning that as improvements occur, they’ll be retrofittable, so investment now doesn’t get declared redundant as soon as the next improvement occurs. And, like all truly modular racks, it can grow with your system. But there is no denying that it represents a substantial financial step up for anybody working his way up the Stillpoints performance hierarchy, and if you are coming from the bottom of the range, the costs involved in adding an ESS to a full suite of Ultra SSes or Minis (racks start at $8620 for a 28" tall, 20" wide, three-shelf unit with grids and HardHats, rising to $12,745 for a 42" tall, 26" wide, five-shelf unit in the same spec) begin to look hard to justify -- especially if the choice was upgrading to all Ultra 5s on your existing rack.

So, to really understand the logic behind the ESS, we have to look at it in top-down terms. For the customer who already has a whole system on Ultra 5s, it’s a no-brainer, extending the established technology and its associated performance benefits about as far as you can take them. Alternatively, as a one-time purchase, rather than an extension to a step-by-step upgrade path, the ESS again offers a one-stop solution that delivers one of the finest equipment support systems currently available. In either scenario, the ESS makes a strong case for consideration.

One reason that I have dwelt on the structure and setup of the ESS at such length is that it is far from a standard rack when it comes to installing a system. The basic levelling and other considerations are familiar, but the skeletal open-frame "shelves" make positioning even moderately heavy equipment on the rack a definite two-man job. Likewise, repositioning the Ultras mounted in the Grids should always be done with two hands, one spinning and one below to prevent a tumble.

The upshot is that the ESS introduces more of a signature to the sound than the Ultras used in isolation. It is marked by a concentration of clarity, leading-edge definition and dynamic range at the expense of some tonal color and harmonic development. But it is going to be a good rack that reveals any shortcomings in the ESS and the queue of contenders is distinctly on the short side. I have arrived at hybrid solutions, using Ultras or other couplers on different racks that offer a fuller and warmer balance that some listeners would find preferable, but the musical swings are always matched by the performance roundabouts, meaning that every benefit comes with its associated cost. The best alternative I’ve found so far comes from LeadingEdge, but that puts the ESS in a class of two. (A disclosure: my wife Louise did work for both LeadingEdge and Stillpoints. The preliminary work for this review predates that involvement, and she is no longer involved with either company.) Even with a couple of serious contenders waiting in the wings, that’s a pretty select group. Besides which, at these prices, a little constructive criticism is to be expected, especially as similar issues with the competition suggest that there’s much more to be discovered on the subject of system support.

Aiming for the summit

The full Stillpoints support system, with an ESS rack under the electronics and Ultra 5s supporting everything, will reveal a level of performance from most systems that the owners never thought possible. It is a comprehensive and beautifully engineered solution that might be expensive but delivers full value in terms of musical performance. It is undoubtedly at the forefront of current system-support solutions -- and the company is making serious efforts to consolidate that position, rather than simply resting on its reputation. The Ultras are impressively consistent performers, irrespective of price level or the system being supported. The ESS is an ongoing project, but its modular nature ensures that early adopters don’t suffer.

From their very first product, Stillpoints have challenged the accepted status quo and our understanding of not just how equipment supports work, but how important they are -- and how much budget we should allocate to them. The current range is versatile, cost-effective and offers remarkable performance. In fact, if you haven’t heard your system on Stillpoints, you probably haven’t heard your system, and if such a thing as a benchmark support system exists here and now, then this is surely it. Of course, the great thing about benchmarks is that they set the standard, a standard that’s there to be beaten by future developments from Stillpoints or their competition.

As fortunate as I am to enjoy the considerable benefits of ESS racks and Ultra 5s on a daily basis, I can’t help feeling that the real jewel in the Stillpoints crown is actually the Ultra Mini. This diminutive but perfectly formed coupler offers genuine Stillpoints performance at a price point that none of the competition can match. As such, it gives a whole range of budget-conscious audiophiles the opportunity to realise that not only are their comparatively modest systems a whole lot better than they thought they were, but that their upgrade strategy probably needs some serious revision. If you are aiming to build a skyscraper, you had better have a solid set of foundations, and that’s exactly what Stillpoints offer

The Stillpoints Experience

Reviewer:
audio forum members etc

Jacob Heilbrunn When I recently called Stillpoints’ Bruce Jacobs to inquire about trying some of his Ultra isolation feet, he asked, “Are these for review or for personal audition? Because you’re not going to want to take them out once you hear them.” At the time I was amused by his remark. But after inserting them into my Wilson XLF loudspeakers, where they replaced the stock spikes, and underneath several pieces of equipment, including the computer controller for the Continuum Caliburn turntable, I quickly came to realise that he had a point.

John Quick of dCS

Thanks to the valiant help of John Quick and Peter McGrath, I was able to execute the installation of the Stillpoints pretty rapidly. We did it one piece at a time. The changes were not subtle. I heard the same things that TAS editor Robert Harley reported hearing in his review in issue 218 of the Stillpoints—greater clarity, more mid-bass punch, blacker backgrounds, and improved spatial relationships. Fine transients, as Robert noted, sounded more lifelike because of a reduction in “transient blurring,” something that I would ascribe to the ability of the Stillpoints Ultra’s ability to lower, and not by a small margin, the noise floor. Both vinyl and digital playback were considerably improved. The overall impression is one of greater silkiness and refinement.

Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio

On Dusty Springfield’s rendition of the “Look of Love” on the Classics 45 rpm reissue, for example, I was riveted not simply by how much more distinct her vocal timbres sounded as she crooned her way through the song, but also by the closing notes of the trumpets. They had always sounded slightly out of tune, almost as though a rag had been stuffed into the bore of the trumpet. No longer. You could hear the metallic sheen of the trumpets as their sound had opened up. Again and again, I was able to identify subtle musical details and cues, whether in the treble or bass region, that had previously been absent.

Perhaps a friend of mine who heard the transformation put it best: “It’s both more information and less detailed.” By that he meant that while the sheer amount of musical information had increased, it’s conveyed in such an effortless and tuneful way that it never overwhelms or assaults the listener. This is a standout product that can take almost any high-end system to a higher and more elegant level of musical performance.

Buggerlugs (audio forum member)

I have Stillpoints under Moon 700i and Marantz SA-7S1. Also Stillpoint LP-I on my Avid Acutus in preference to the Avid screw-down clamp. Very much clearer sound on all sources. Expensive in UK, but extremely effective. Will buy more if I can find the money, to go under phonostage, TT power supply and headphone amp.

Tracy farthings123 (audio forum member)

Have you actually tried these Stillpoints? I have and on a modest system. …..If you really love music and have a reasonable system, you are short-changing yourself! May I suggest you borrow some of the Stillpoints and try moving them in and out of your system so you can experience the improvements for yourself. Unless your ears were surgically removed or you are blinded/deafened by prejudice, you will find the improvements easy to identify and greatly improve one's enjoyment of music as well! Best wishes and happy listening,

Avatar brion (audio forum member)

I agree completely. And one needn't - unless the equipment weighs more than 50 pounds, - spend more than is needed for a set of Ultra Mini Risers, which will quickly show you the error in thinking that, for this money, that the total effect of which they are capable is 'better bass.' You'd be foolish to think that way.

I also have the SS points, too, and they do more than just 'tighten the bass" (what a limited description of the apogee to which they elevate your system). They bring out the semi - and demi - quavers in voice: lower the noise floor so that the aforementioned semis and demis can be heard, bring out subtle orchestral voices and even make the bass range of a cymbal crash more prominent, so there is less of the 'white noise' effect and more of the power and 'crunch' of a live cymbal crash. What they do for the tiniest dynamic inflections should not be minimised. And even on the pitiful cd recording of 'Nightbirds' (LaBelle from 1974), you can separate out Nona Hendryx from Sarah Dash from Patti. This with an NAD C325BEE. Imagine what it would be like with a REALLY good separate or integrated. but you MUST spend considerable time moving the feet for the maximum effect, or you may just GET 'better bass.'

DaveD (audio forum member)

Stillpoints are amazing!!! Never heard such incredible soundstage before. I'm using about 20 now and hope to get 60 more.

Avatar calloway (audio forum member)

agree 100% in your assessment..i have them too...

SUMMARY of REVIEWER STILLPOINTS’ QUOTES

Reviewer:
Robert Harley, Chris Thomas &Roy Gregory

ROBERT HARLEY STILLPOINTS’ QUOTES

Reviewing the Ultra SS:

“I replaced the hefty stock Focal spikes with Stillpoints Ultras, sat back, and was shocked by what I heard. With the Stillpoints, the soundstage opened up with greater width, depth, and bloom around images. The sound became even more detached from the loudspeakers, with a greater solidity of images between and around the Focals …

… The bass improved to a similar degree. The bottom end became tauter, better defined, and cleaner. The Stillpoints made the midbass a bit leaner, but more articulate. The improved midbass conferred greater clarity in the midrange, as well as in the bottom octave, where very low bass notes were more audible and defined once the midbass was better controlled. Bass dynamics were also improved; notes seemed to start and stop more quickly, giving the presentation greater dynamic agility and conveying more of the musicians’ dynamic expression.

Finally, replacing the stock spikes with Stillpoints make the background “blacker” and quieter, allowing greater clarity and resolution of very low-level information. Sounds that had been somewhat undifferentiated with the stock feet became vividly clear. For example, percussion instruments that produce a series of very fine transients (shakers and guiros, for examples) sounded much more real with the reduction in transient blurring. Moreover, it was much easier to identify exactly how the instrument produced its sound. All this added up to a more lifelike reproduction.”

– Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, November 2011, Issue 218

“Adding the Stillpoints racks to my system was not like changing a component because there were no sonic tradeoffs. The ESS racks don’t force you to pay a penalty in one area to get what could be an overall improvement in many others. Rather, the Stillpoints products raise the performance of every aspect of the system and degrade none. No listener in my view would ever prefer the system without Stillpoints.”

– Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, September 2012

ROBERT HARLEY STILLROBPOINTS’ QUOTES cont’d

“Adding the Ultra 5 devices under the Lansche No.7, after I had installed the ESS racks and Ultra SS under the power amplifiers, was revelatory. All the qualities I’ve described about the ESS racks were taken to another level. The increase in resolution was mind-boggling. I’m not talking about hi-fi resolution or the presentation becoming more forward or etched, but rather that about hearing more musical information.”

– Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, September 2012

“Fully loading a system with Stillpoints technology – the ESS racks, Ultra SS under the power amplifiers, and, especially, Ultra 5s under the loudspeakers – transformed my system far beyond anything I could have imagined. Whatever the music the change was always the same – hearing more music, more realistically presented, and with vastly deeper involvement. There’s simply no going back.”

– Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, September 2012

CHRIS THOMAS OF HIFI+ STILLPOINTS’ QUOTES

“My own lengthy Stillpoints experience changed when last summer I received enough products to float my entire system. This left me in no doubt as to just how limited those early but lengthy listening experiments really were and how I had previously only really scratched the surface of what could be achieved musically - without changing a single component. I think this is both the critical point and the very essence of the whole Stillpoints equation.”

– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 99

“There is no Stillpoints white paper and to do the detailed science would be a huge and costly undertaking, but what seems certain is that the products are able to drain resonances from equipment to differing levels of efficiency, leaving a more pristine, less polluted signal, depending on exactly which of them you employ and exactly how and where you couple them. By far the most important thing though is the truly significant musical benefits that they bring.”

– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 99

“I could finely tune the electronics by moving the Stillpoints around to where they sounded best. Forget symmetrical spacing. As a starting point, find where the transformer is and sit your first device there then perhaps, for the CD player, locate the next beneath the transport and then use the other two to balance the component.”

– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 101

“For the past year I have been completely fascinated with the music of Melody Gardot …

… She breathes and enunciates in a musical way. Getting this close to the performance is made all the simpler by adding Ultra 5’s to the system. Their impact is profound.”

– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 101

“The Stillpoint’ed system I constructed at home can take you to that edge of emotional intensity and while all the detailed improvements are the components of the upgrade, the really worthwhile result is that the space between you and the artist closes dramatically …

… This cannot be measured on any test-bench. This is what truly great home audio does ...

… For me, fully floating a system elevates all these things and Stillpoints products are certainly one of the most important and interesting audio developments to have come along for quite a while. The fact that they can achieve such interesting and profound musical influences without component changes is really something and their applications are wider spread than I imagined.”

– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 101

ROY GREGORY STILLPOINTS’ QUOTES

"The Stillpoints LPI immediately imposes a sense of balanced calm on proceedings: the band step away from the speakers, the recording becomes a single, coherent entity, while the stereo perspective becomes much more natural, especially in terms of height. The drum kit solidifies into a single compact unit, rather than having elements scattered across the soundstage, the chiming guitars are both better separated and more insistent. But most telling of all is the drop in apparent volume; the music doesn’t seem so loud because so much hash and noise has been stripped away...I’ve found no music that fails to benefit from the LPI and it has become an essential piece of the turntable setup."

– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2012

“The Stillpoints are a carefully considered and logically structured product line that attacks a clearly defined problem with equally clear results; would that it were always so. You can’t listen to a product -- you can only listen to a system, which in some cases makes reaching conclusions a bit like nailing jello to the ceiling. The Stillpoints offer a closed solution to a single question. Believe it or not, they are as easy as it gets.”

– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, September 2012

When I’m presenting the TAB System Optimization seminars, one of the really big steps upward in performance comes when, having already bypassed the feet under the equipment using wooden blocks, we substitute trios of Ultra Minis. The increase in transparency and focus, the drop in the noise floor, the increase in dynamic range, resolution and the range of tonal colors is nothing short of dramatic -- "Is this the same system?" dramatic. And that’s before I point out the improvements in ensemble playing, physical presence, the sense of rhythm and tempo, the relationship between the instruments, how good the track sounds -- hell, how good the musicians sound. That’s the difference that a properly executed support strategy can make -- the difference between a decipherable recording and a living breathing event, a presentation that you have to work out and one that just draws you in. You see, I can throw as many hi-fi clichés at you as you like and the Stillpoints pretty much cover the bases, but what’s really significant is not the sonic differences these products make, but the musical ones; the fact that the performance presented by your system sounds more musical, more engaging and much more immediately involving.”

– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013

“The Stillpoints supports work, and so far they’ve worked every single time I’ve used them, irrespective of the system or the nature of the equipment involved.”

– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013

“…properly deployed, the Stillpoints products can move your system significantly down the musical road to where it needs to be. … This is about working with the fundamentals of system infrastructure, and Stillpoints can be a key building block in that process, helping define the physical environment in which your system operates, isolating (and preserving) the signal, rather than just the equipment.”

– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013

“The structure of the ESS consists of a pair of pylon… …the rack’s framework is available in three different heights and three widths and will support as many shelves as you can cram into the available space, so the range of options (and prices) is almost unlimited.”

– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013

“From their very first product, Stillpoints have challenged the accepted status quo and our understanding of not just how equipment supports work, but how important they are -- and how much budget we should allocate to them. The current range is versatile, cost-effective and offers remarkable performance. In fact, if you haven’t heard your system on Stillpoints, you probably haven’t heard your system, and if such a thing as a benchmark support system exists here and now, then this is surely it.”

– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013

Must now save to try under the speakers!

Reviewer:
Rodney - a satisfied client

Hi Terry,

The UltraSS stillpoints you supplied for trial under the valve pre-amp have had really substantial positive results and justified their considerable expense. Clarity increased, with improved treble refinement and subtlety throughout the whole pitch range - the distinctive sound of instruments emerging fully.

The most immediate effect was a marked increase in dynamics. With recordings of groups or orchestras greatly increased sense of depth and position in the soundstage and a widening too.

Must now save to try under the speakers! ( Subject to budgetary approval of Management) .

The most immediate effect was a marked increase in dynamics. With recordings of groups or orchestras greatly increased sense of depth and position in the soundstage and a widening too.

Must now save to try under the speakers! (subject to budgetry approval of Management) .

RegardsRodney

Thank you for another great result.

Hi Terry,Thanks for letting me try more Stillpoint Ultra SS isolators. (The first set made such a marked improvement, under the tube preamp, as you suggested they might).

To my surprise,the place where they made a marked and beneficial change was under the Nordost Qbase Power distribution block. I am using Tellurium Black power chords (again from you, with better dynamics and tonal accuracy than others at 3x the price)

Better power cables are stiff and transfer micro vibrations from amp and cd player around the system.The Stillpoints under the power block ,to my surprise, deepened the soundstage, widened it with recordings where there are more players and the mics are further away from the performers. The position of the players or singers in the soundstage became much more clearly defined, and the clarity, harmonic accuracy and discrimination improved.

The combination with the effect under the pre-amp was equivilent to a major up-grade to tuner, CD player, amp and pre-amp.

Thank you for another great result.

RegardsRodney

The Stillpoints puck is outstanding.

Hi Terry

The Stillpoints puck is outstanding. I have had a few, including the Shun Mook, but the Stillpoints tops them all.

At some point I may try more Stillpoints under equipment, or maybe the Magico Qpods. Do you have any thoughts on these under a CD player or pre amp?

Best regardsMichael

I guess the next logical step will be to try these Stillpoints under my speakers.

Hi TerryNow that I have been using the Stillpoints Ultra Mini for a few weeks, I just wanted to say that they have been a revelation - all the hi-fi clichés i.e. better separation, more detail, quieter etc. are a tick.

In fact I would say that they are quite possibly the best upgrade I have made to any system including upgrading amps and sources.

What astounded me the most was these improvements were all brought about by placing the Stillpoints beneath my power distribution block – I had erroneously assumed that the best gains would be under the source equipment

I guess the next logical step will be to try these Stillpoints under my speakers.

Customers say:

Wow. Never thought cables could make such a difference!

The stand out improvement was the power cable - what a transformation! Bronze cable has beautiful definition, and I would have been more than happy if I hadn't heard the others... Mid range silver gave greater clarity, with the nei1001s providing the depth and breadth I was missing. So now the bronze sounds strident in comparison!

Best of all, I get much more enjoyment even at low volumes, when previously I kept wanting to crank it up to hear the clarity. I can tell I'm going to have to do some serious bargaining with my husband... ;-)

Will do another trial tomorrow, particularly with the power cable on the DAC, as its made such a sea change on the amp.